Author
Helmi Ben Meriem
In Praise of Exile? The Case of Somali Writer Nuruddin Farah
Abstract
Throughout his fiction, essays, and interviews, Nuruddin Farah, who was declared “persona non grata” in 1976 by Siad Barre and who has returned to Somalia only a few times since then, elucidates the advantages of being in exile and its benefits to his fiction.
Nonetheless, as much as Farah celebrates exile, his fiction has suffered from Farah being outside of Somalia, especially observable in certain gaps in relation to day-to-day life and the evolving political scene in Somalia. Exile has isolated Farah from witnessing firsthand the unraveling and the rebuilding of Somalia and severed him from what he writes about, reducing him to ‘a [mere] capsule of ideas,’ to quote Farah himself.
Thus, by juxtaposing the advantages and the shortcomings of exile in Nuruddin Farah’s case, this essay emphasizes how exile can be a multifaceted and, at times, contradictory experience.
